Lloyds Tea House, Chennai, India

The next time I am out on a CFG Showcase I am ensuring to pop in at least two pills of H2 receptor inhibitors. Else I am sure to die of breaks in the tissue linings of my stomach.  The delay in serving was understandable, though.

 

The sound of Lloyd’s Tea House gave me an impression that the entire place is gonna be filled with Tea leaves from diversities and to match my belief, it did.

For those of us who are immune to the taste of Indian tea, there wouldn’t be many takers for the kind of range they sell. I got to taste two types of teas and both were out of the world. Forgot their names, dammmit.

 

It all began with a nice shoot around the place. The ambience is a super hit. They have tried to pull out of their old Aristocrat and VIP luggage boxes from their home, must be from their siblings too, and jack it up in place on the wall. Perhaps they would have emptied the cash in it to build this illustrious “talk of the town” restaurant. Want to relax on a warm evening..then this is the place to be.

The food was awesome – they over stuffed us in fact.

Spicy Garlic Toast to begin with and followed by Crisp Chilly herb bread..
Roasted Vegetable Pizza was great – but lowering the olive oil portion will help.

(here is when I realized I needed a 150mg dosage of Ranitidine Hydrochloride to arrest my stomach acids from releasing and then growling for want of food)

 

I am letting my images speak a little bit. ..and will leave the rest of the restaurants to gloat 

 

Savory – Kaara Adai

Ingredients:

Rice Flour – 1 Cup
Water – 1 ¼ Cup
Salt – to taste
Chopped Green Chillies- 2
Oil – 2 tlbs
Mustard Seeds – 1 tsp
Grated Coconut – ¼ cup [optional]
Karamani [dried Cowpeas] – 1 tlbsp
Curry Leaves

Preparation:
Soak the dried karamani for 5 to 6 hours and cook and keep aside.

Method:
Roast the rice flour well in a dry kadai till it gives out a good smell. However do not roast till it turns red. Remove from Kadai.

Heat the kadai (FRYING PAN) and add oil and mustard seeds.

When the mustard seed splutters add chopped chillies and curry leaves. Toss for a few seconds.

Pour water in the kadai and bring it to a boil. Reduce flame and add rice flour and mix well.

Add karamani, grated coconut, 1 tlbs of oil and required salt and blend well till a nice thick paste is formed.

Take it off the heat and allow to cool.

Grease your palm with oil or use a small plantain leaf. Roll the dough into balls and flatten them to about ¼ inch thickness. Make a small hole or dent in the centre to allow it to cook evenly.

Grease idly plates and steam the adais [adai – a dish that has a thin spread of batter/dough] till done [roughly 8 to 10 mins].

Serve with a fresh blob of butter.

By Mrs. Mira Balachandran; ; mira.balachandran@gmail.com

Steamed Nonbu Adai – Sweet & Savory.

Kaaradaiyaan Nonbu, is a very special function observed by people in the Southern states. This Nonbu or Savithri vrat is observed during the last day of the Tamil month of Maasi and the beginning of the month of Panguni. The Nonbu is observed by all unmarried and married women and celebrates the victory of Savithri, a mythical character, in bringing back her husband Sathyavan to life from the jaws of death [from Yama], the Undertaker of the Hindu Religion. The married women pray for the longevity of their husband and the unmarried girls pray in order to get an ideal husband. Sweet adais are offered as prasadam, considered offering of God, during the pooja.

Sweet Adai

Rice flour – 1 cup
Jaggery syrup – 1 ¼ cup
Karamani [dried cowpeas] – 1 tlbs
Grated or finely chopped coconut – ½ cup
Elaichi Powder – 1 tsp
Ghee – 1 or 2 tlbs>/span>

Preparation:
Soak the dried karamani (Snake bean or Chinese Long Bean) for 5 to 6 hours and cook and keep aside.

Method:
Roast the rice flour well in a dry kadai till it gives out a good smell. However do not roast till it turns red. Remove from Kadai (heating Pan).

Pour jaggery syrup and bring it to a boil. Reduce flame and add rice flour to the syrup and mix well.

Add karamani, grated coconut, 1 tlbs of ghee (Clarified Butter) and cardamom powder and blend well till a nice thick paste is formed.

Take it off the heat and allow to cool.

Grease your palm with ghee or use a small plantain leaf. Roll the dough into balls and flatten them to about ¼ inch thickness. Make a small hole in the centre to allow it to cook evenly.

Grease idly plates and steam the adais till done [roughly 8 to 10 mins].

Serve with a fresh blob of butter.

Tips:
Amount of jaggery used will depend on the sweetness and quality of the jaggery. So pay attention.
If the adais are undercooked or have too much jaggery then they tend to be sticky in the mouth. If overcooked they will become hard

By Mrs. Mira Balachandran; ; mira.balachandran@gmail.com

Kanchipuram Idly

Idly is a universally accepted and sought after dish for its simplicity in terms of preparation, adaptability, digestion and taste. There are innumerable varieties already but you find a new variant coming up everyday. So much for its adaptability to any ingredient added to it.

Ingredients:

Urad Dal – 1 cup

Raw Rice – 1 cup

Par Boiled Rice – 1 cup

Cumin Seeds – 1 tsp

Pepper – 1 tsp [coarsely powdered]

Salt to taste

Ghee – 1 tsp

Cashewnuts – a few

Oil – 1 tlbsp

Ginger – 1 tsp [ finely grated, optional]

Mustard Seeds – ½ tsp [optional]

Method:

Wash & soak urad dal and rice separately at least for 4 to 6 hours.

Grind them separately in a grinder to a thick batter. The rice can be ground a bit coarsely.

Add salt as required and mix together.

Let is ferment for 6 to 8 hours.

Add ghee to a pan and fry the Cashew nuts till brown. Add to the batter.

Pour oil in the pan and add mustard seeds. When it splutters add cumin, pepper and ginger and fry for a few seconds. Add to batter and mix well.

Pour the idly batter in idly plates after greasing them with oil and steam till it is done.

Serve hot with appropriate chutneys or sambar.

Tips: Thick Sour curds can also be added to the batter if it has not fermented well. However ensure the batter does not become watery.

Instead of Idly plates this batter can also be poured in long tubular cylinder like vessels [puttu Koralle] or even in your normal tumblers after greasing them well. Alternatively they can also be poured in shallow plates with at least 2 inches depth and then steamed. This can be cut into squares and served.

STEAM COOKING

Steaming is perhaps the oldest form of cooking – even before the cave man discovered fire. It is said that food was softened over hot springs or stones in ancient times. Steaming is a moist method of cooking that combines hot air and moisture to soften and cook ingredients.

Steaming is a preferred method of cooking for the simple reason that it retains the nutrient factors when compared to other forms like baking or frying, retaining color, flavor as well as texture. Research has established that steamed food only showed a loss of 40% vitamins in vegetables compared to 70% that is lost when the same is boiled. All the essential goodness is retained and there is lesser requirement for fat too. Food is not exposed to intense heat as in other methods.

To get the optimum results while steaming:
Choose ingredients and ensure that they are of good quality and not rotten or stale. The reason for this is steaming enhances flavors and any ‘unwanted’ aroma or flavor will only get accentuated.

Ensure that you have proper gadgets for steaming and the appliances are in order. If steam escapes or the lids are not proper it will delay the cooking as well as prove uneconomical

Make sure that the vessel containing the ingredients is placed well above the water and there is no chance of the outer liquid entering the substance.

While dicing vegetables or meat or poultry ensure that they are of the same size so that they are evenly cooked in the specified time

Ensure water levels are adequate to complete cooking.

If you are cooking more than one item in a steamer make sure there is some space between containers to allow circulation of steam to ensure faster cooking

To save on fuel bring all frozen foods to room temperature before steam cooking.

Place juicy foods in the bottom so that they don’t drip liquids and spread their flavor on to other foods